coc_bostonfandomcom-20200214-history
Session 03
View the dream log for last night. = Game date = February 19, 2011 = Game notes = Jeffrey mentioned this may be his last session, due to having to move. ;; = Game log = To recap: The party is in the ballroom having breakfast as the news of the captain's death comes out. Owen and Clayton trade stories about Gerald and the guy watching the captain at the hotel. Clayton heads off to tell the cops about the latter. Evey wants to discreetly schedule a luncheon with Lexington. She also checks on her previous telegram to her mother to check up on Joan's story from the other side of the Atlantic. Owen, Clayton, and Xianqi head down to the scene of the crime. Owen talks to a reporter while Xianqi hangs back. Owen finds out little but gives some bad remarks as the reporter needles him about whether they're a criminal element in the expedition. He gives his name as "Warren G. Harding". Since there are no cops on the scene, Clayton heads off to the cops. Luo decides to follow him around now. Owen heads to the ship where Thomas had already found that the ship is locked up. Luo and Clayton check out the flophouse on the way to the cops. Clayton finds out how to reach the detective on the case, Hanson. Luo asks the desk clerk for info on the Captain. We find out some more about the guy hanging out in the lobby. He's blond and German (definite accent), and he insisted on room 21 (lucky number) which was right next to the Captain's. He checked out the morning after Douglas was found dead. We also find out that there is an illegal bar at a nearby docks restaurant called the Purple Cup. The Captain's attack happened at a point somewhere on the route between the flophouse and the bar. Reporters, detective Back at the hotel, reporters are mobbing Starkweather and Moore. One man stands aside, and Owen goes to talk to him. He thinks he's getting the "real" story. He takes Owen, Evey, and Tom aside and reveals himself to be Detective Hanson. He asks where they were last night. Luo and Clayton return to the hotel. Clayton talks with the detective, drops all the info he has, and provides his (non-)alibi of being in the hotel. The detective didn't have confirmation that the captain was on the expedition until Clayton gave it. He asked some questions about reasons to hate the guy. Lunch time. The group swaps stories, and Thomas lets the group know about the mystery note. Moore makes an announcement about the tragedy and how they're trying to find a replacement captain without moving the date. Moore calls over Clayton and asks him to stay discreet about to the press. Clayton passes on the info about the German, and Moore mentions that there's a German expedition to the Amazon (purely scientific and going a different way) leaving soon. He asks Clayton to check on supplies and do some discreet investigation of whether Lexington could have had any influence on things. At the warehouse, the missing foods have arrived, as have the aluminum pipes. However, the pipe fitting tools are for the wrong size of pipe. Dr. Russel hires a private investigator, Joseph Lewison, to track down whether or not Lexington has been interfering with DeWinter's money/help. Four of us decide to go down to check out the Purple Cup. Clayton & Luo go as the "charm" team first, but Clayton manages to piss off everyone (rolled a 99). Evey and Owen come in as a girl looking for her "estranged father" Captain Douglas. Evey gets some attention for her looks but no leads. Owen tries asking around and strikes out but goes to shake down someone in the bathroom. As it were. Evey leaves and Dr. Russel follows to make sure she's okay (and because he's useless). Owen pushes a guy up against a wall and puts a gun to his back. He finds out that the Captain was here last night drinking with three other regulars, talking about the expedition -- specifically Starkweather, Lexington, and Grimes. He didn't see any Germans. Owen passes of some of his info to Luo. Luo finds out that Jerry Grimes is a regular at the bar. Probably lives close by based on how often he comes in when he's not shipped out (which he will be doing soon). The others he was with include Wykes & Brewer which were regulars. Meanwhile, Tom checks out the ship. It's not as tidy as he'd like, but there's no risk to health or safety. We all meet back at dinner and swap stories. A decision is made to investigate the three names with the university, at the docks, and by asking Moore. Later that night, Owen continues making explosives and looking for places to stash contraband on the boat. Dr. Russel has a message in his room from under the door. Typewritten. The note threatens that there must not go on the expedition and that they will kill to avoid us facing worse horrors in the jungle. The Captain is only the first to die. Dr. Russel warns Moore, but he doesn't take it really seriously. April 9th The funeral for the captain will be today. It'd be nice if people showed. There's also the idea that the three sailors might be there. Evey opts to stay at the hotel, as she had pretended to be his daughter. Clayton checks with Cooper and the university and find out that all three other crew members (a) just recently quit and (b) were the only crew on both expeditions. He also gets their addresses. There are five men at the funeral other than the pastor, Detective Hanson, and those from the expedition. Dr. Russel talks with two of the people who were merchant marine with the Captain but who hadn't seen him in six years. He later talks to the detective and gives him the details on the three crew who left and tells him about the note. Owen talks with Mr. Brachman, the Captain's lawyer for the last week. Luo speaks with Douglas's brother, a bald man with a mustache, who didn't know he was back until he heard of his death from the lawyer. He had been positive that he would never return to South America. Thomas talks to the last man, Guy Hawks, who claims not to have known the deceased. He's trying to listen in to Luo and the brother and brush off Thomas. Thomas doesn't get a clear look at the license plate. The afternoon paper has a "somewhat yellow" article claiming that Dr. Clayton Russel has complained of corruption in the expedition. The picture is of a different man covering his face. (That was Owen, who gave Russel's name after jawing off to the reporter earlier.) The actual Dr. Russel leaves a message with the reporter (Murdoch) whose secretary won't let him see him for another two days. Evey gets word from her mother that she'll try to investigate, but don't expect to much. More stuff arrives and is in good enough shape. Russel tries to set the story straight with another competing paper. Evey also fails to notice that the picture is Owen. The ex-crew Luo, Owen, and Thomas head off to each of the three ex-crew. At Grimes house, they ring him up as members of the expedition, and he tells them to, "Fuck off." Owen: "Why don't you come down her and fuck us yourself." After he comes down and scuffles with Owen for a bit, Owen passes him off to the other two while keeping a gun on him. They find out that Grimes was only on the expedition because he heard that Douglas was. Douglas was talking to the three because he was pissed because he wasn't on the expedition and he didn't like how Starkweather and Moore were claiming that he was on it. He said he'd planned to stay with his brother. They try for Wykes, posing as members of the Lexington expedition, and he blows them off saying there's gainful employment in this hemisphere. The quit because the expedition's "bona fides" turned out to be legit. Evey and Clayton in Arkham Evey and Clayton head off to speak to Rice, and then Vinson in Arkham. They get blown off by Dr. Rice's secretary when they try the honest approach; she says that his view of further adventures in the Amazon are a matter of public record. ("He will not support spending further money on suicidal endeavors.") They continue to Arkham. They find out that Vinson is somewhat lucid now, but she can have screaming self-harming episodes if she sees bugs or thinks about her trip to Brazil. She hasn't had any visitors, but they don't want to trigger an episode, so they leave after asking the staff to advise them if she has any. They check with her physician to see if he has any notes, drawings, or other output from her about the expedition. They stay in Arkham overnight (Clayton at his home, and Evey at a hotel). They decide to check the library tomorrow for more info. Aside; Owen finds out some more information about the Lexington expedition. They are also departing from Boston and have a ship, the Tallahassee, docked a half mile from us. Evey and Russel talk with Dr. Vinson's physician, and find out that she was separated from her personal effects as they caused a trigger. She had notes of the expedition that they're allowed to look at after sharing info about the cannibalism episode. Her notes are much the same as Letty's, but with dreams of some sort of unique earth goddess -- a fertility goddess of all life, unlike those of any tribal religions that Dr. Russell is familiar with. They get more information about Edward Dowling's disappearance. Screaming in the night, howling in pain, and shooting incomprehensible words. There's also some more information on the confrontation with Biggs before he left. She was in the group that got abducted (and rescued by Commander Diott). The day before they got abducted was the last entry. Talks about Smythe acting more and more strangely, building a perimeter around the camp, helping the (quite ill) doctor treat everybody. How Smythe got manic the night before and ranting and raving incomprehensibly. Also talked about a great light in the sky. Seems like a comet that appeared during the day. (There was something in the papers at the time about the comet which was bright enough to see in the day. In real life, 1927.) She also has a rose stone artifact that we pocket. The lines and edges of it curve and fold in on themselves in eye-disturbing ways. It's like a melange of different traits. The goddess figure is sometimes called the "rose of the dawn" or the "pink blush of life," but her impression is more emotional than visual. Also called the "tree of life," and there's definitely a plant motif in the artifact. At the library, we ask to see the special collection and ask for some references on obscure religious figures (and get pointed to two classic mythos texts). I can't spell them in their native names, the Unspeakable Cults and Mother's Milk. The rose ones have a furry, plant-like nature. The green ones have a reptilian, insectoid, fishy look. They have no luck with the books. (BOHICA.) They return to Boston. Category:Session Logs